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Azien
Azien is the language that has developed in Australia after the Apocalypse in 2064. Setting Azien is believed to have started developing as a unique language approximately 40-70 years after the Apocalypse due to its isolation to other English speaking communities. Being derived from Enlish, it is fairly mutually intelligible; however, it also takes vocabulary from many slang words and other languages believed to have been spoken in Australia. Its grammer is also different and in some ways simpler than that of English. Certain aspects of the grammar have also been influenced by Japanese, specifically the presence of particles for marking a noun's role in a sentence. Phonology Vowels Monophthongs Diphthongs Consonants 1 The Alveolar approximant is usually not labialized like in English Consonant Clusters The following are acceptable combinations of consonants: *The following fricative/approximant **fl **vl **fr **vr *Any stop/approximant (ones including w are rare, however) *The following stop/fricative **cs pronounced as a voiceless postalveolar affricate /t͡ʃ/ **pf NOT an affricate Stress Under construction. Grammar Verbs Verbs are not conjugated, with one exception (the verb "te" meaning "to be"). Instead, the subject is stated, then the verb, then a time particles indicating one of the following tenses: Simple past, simple present, simple future, past perfect, present perfect, future perfect, past progressive, and imperfective (present/future progressive or habitual actions). Verb forms Verbs can take three forms: *Simple, infinitive state - start with a "t", e.g. "toin" means "to eat". Verbs can take two other forms: *Participle form - start with a k, e.g. "koin" means "eaten". Note that these only function as modifiers. *Free or "bare" form - do not start with anything and are combined with a time particle and a subject to indicate an action, e.g. "oin" means "eat", "eats", "ate", "will eat", etc. depending on the time particle and subject. The only verb that is conjugated is the verb "te" meaning "to be", and it is only conjugated according to the subject. Use the appropriate time particles to indicate tense. Note that in casual speech the verb is often not used, and the subject and time particle are only given and the verb is implied. Conjugation for the verb "te": Time Particles 1Note: Sometimes in informal speech the simple present marker is omitted. Nouns Nouns (except when referring to people) do not have gender, and are not declined. Case is marked either with a preposition, particle, or indicated by word order. The subject of a verb (nominative case) always comes directly before the verb *e.g. "I eat" = "Au oin da" The direct object (accusative case) and indirect object (dative case) usually follow the verb, in any order, and are marked by the particles "ve" and "ta" respectively. The particles directly follow the noun. *e.g. "I threw you the ball" = "Au caiva ye te he bal va" where "ye" (you) is the indirect object and "he bal" (the ball) is the direct object. *"I threw you the ball" could also be written as "Au caiva he bal va ye te" A noun in the Vocative case goes at the beginning of a sentence and separated by commas. e.g. "John (Csan), you are a cat" = "Csan, ye tei da o kata ve" All other cases are handled with appropriate prepositions as in English and placed in a logical location in the sentence, usually after the verb/noun to which it relates (syntax rules are very loose in Azien). To make a noun plural, add "s" at the end if it ends wit a vowel, otherwise add a "es". Pronouns There are five different types of pronouns in Azien; Personal, possesive, demonstrative/relative, interrogative, and indefinite. Note that Azien has two genders, a male/neuter gender (like English "he" and "it"), represented here by "Male/N", and a female gender (like English "she"). Personal pronouns Personal pronouns refer to anything in any case (i.e. there is no distinction between a pronoun acting as a subject, like "I", or as a direct object, like "me"). The following is a table of personal pronouns: Possessive pronouns The possessive pronouns function just like possessive pronouns in English. Possessive pronouns The possessive pronouns function just like possessive pronouns in English. Demonstrative/Relative pronouns The demonstrative/relative pronouns act in two different ways; the first is demonstrative, meaning that they refer to something indicated by the speaker (like in English "That egg", "these things", etc.). They can also be relative, in which they signify a relative clause (like in English "the ball that I threw" or "The person who threw the ball"). The following are the demonstrative/relative pronouns in Azien: Interrogative Pronouns The interrogative pronouns function the same in Azien as they do in English. They are as follows: *Who - Han *What - Wat *When - Hen *Where - Dat *Why - Wai *How - Hou Indefinite pronouns The interrogative pronouns function the same in Azien as they do in English. To form it, all one does is attach "a" to the beginning of the interrogative pronouns: *Anywho - Ahan *Anything - Awat *Anytime - Ahen *Anywhere - Adat *Anyhow - Ahou Adjectives and Adverbs Azien is head-final, meaning that all adjectives are placed before the noun. If an adverb is modifying an adjective or another adverb, then it is placed before the word it is modifying; if an adverb is modifying a verb, it is placed directly after the time particle (with any adverbs modifying it before). *e.g. Under construction Dictionary Example text Category:Languages